


The Hardest Thing

by lily_pearl (lilyandjoey), lilyandjoey



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/F, War Era
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-05-14
Updated: 2010-05-14
Packaged: 2017-10-09 10:52:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,051
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/86490
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lilyandjoey/pseuds/lily_pearl, https://archiveofourown.org/users/lilyandjoey/pseuds/lilyandjoey
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Luna has always been a source of fascination for Ginny. She just wishes Luna wasn't so hard to read.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Hardest Thing

**Author's Note:**

> This is set in an alternate universe, in which there is no swift war in DH. After they finish school, various members of the Order of the Phoenix set up home at HQ. Originally written for [](http://community.livejournal.com/clever_claws/profile)[**clever_claws**](http://community.livejournal.com/clever_claws/) fest 2009.

Ginny looked herself up and down in the bathroom mirror. She looked a lot more determined and focussed than she felt. She was wearing her usual 'mission' outfit: black boots, dark jeans and black top. Her wand was in a holster strapped to her right arm and her hair was pulled back into a neat ponytail. She had removed all her jewellery, with the exception of a brightly-coloured beaded bracelet on her left wrist. She couldn't quite bring herself to take it off just yet.

Ginny sighed and unlocked the bathroom door. She walked down the hall, passing Harry and Neville's rooms quickly, and climbed the stairs two at a time. Sometimes she was struck by the strangeness of their living arrangements, but it never lasted long. Most of the time it felt perfectly normal that 12 Grimmauld Place, once family home of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black, had become not only the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix, but home to many of its members. Ginny felt like it was part barracks, part research facility, part hippy commune.

The door to Luna's room was open and she paused in the doorway for a few seconds before going in. Anyone seeing the room for the first time would know instantly that it was Luna's. There was a pile of mismatched cushions in the corner where Luna liked to sit and read. The shelves along the far wall were piled with books on an odd assortment of subjects – Ginny was sure that Luna was the only person she knew who would consider a treatise on the Mermish peoples of sub-Saharan Africa to be useful reading material in the current climate. There was a string of radishes hung across the window. If that wasn't enough, one only had to look at the walls to see Luna's influence.

Luna had painted a mural that covered two-thirds of the available wall space. Every living member of the Order of the Phoenix was depicted on the walls of Luna's room, along with her parents and a few departed friends. Harry, Ron and Hermione were huddled together over a book; Sirius, Remus and Tonks were laughing round a table; Fred was offering Neville a dodgy-looking sweet while George sat on a sofa with Hestia and Susan. Ginny smiled sadly and walked over to her favourite section. Luna had painted herself and Ginny together, laughing and holding hands. Ginny reached up to trace the outline of painting-Luna's hair.

She wasn't sure when she'd gone from simply being friends with Luna to wanting more. The feeling had crept up on her when she wasn't looking. They had started spending a little more time together and Ginny had found herself deliberately seeking Luna out. She thought about Luna whenever she was out on a mission, counting down the days, hours and minutes until she could see her again. It was so hard to tell whether her feelings were reciprocated. Luna was frustratingly hard to read sometimes, while Ginny knew that she wore her own heart on her sleeve. It was a sign of weakness, but she couldn't bear to leave without seeing Luna first.

"You're leaving then," Luna said from the doorway.

Ginny jumped a little at the sound of the voice behind her. She turned to face Luna and pasted a false smile on her face. Luna was standing in the doorway, wearing her favourite shirt. It was turquoise, covered in strange symbols and clashed horribly with her purple skirt. Her long messy blonde hair hung in loose waves over her shoulders. Ginny's mind flashed back to the night they had spent lying side by side, a little too close, while Luna told her the meaning of every symbol on her shirt. She had embroidered them herself, one by one.

"Will you look after this for me?" Ginny asked, fumbling with her bracelet.

A serious expression passed over Luna's face and was gone just as quickly. She stepped fully into the room and closed the door behind her.

"Ginny," she started to say, but Ginny interrupted her quickly.

"Just until I get back – I don't want to lose it," Ginny said unconvincingly.

Luna held out her wrist and Ginny took a couple of steps closer. She gently fastened the bracelet around Luna's thin wrist. When she had finished, Luna caught her hand before she could move away. When Ginny looked up she found Luna looking at her intently. Before she could say a word, Luna closed the short distance between them and kissed her gently. Ginny responded eagerly. The tension that had been building between them for weeks had finally broken. Ginny tangled her hands in Luna's hair possessively. She could feel Luna smiling against her lips and she couldn't help but smile too.

When they broke apart Luna straightened Ginny's shirt and stepped back to give her a quick once over. She looked pleased with herself and Ginny couldn't stop smiling. She knew it was foolish to allow herself to become so distracted when she had to leave in twenty minutes. It was hard to stay focussed on anything serious with Luna around. She also knew that most of her friends would think she was losing the plot if she told them that Luna was the only thing keeping her sane. Her grin widened as she pictured the look on Hermione's face if she told her that.

While everything around her crumbled, Ginny clung to the fact that Luna didn't change. Hermione was getting thinner by the day with worry, Harry and Neville had grown grim and determined, Ron was scarily sensible lately and Ginny herself was now every inch the warrior. Luna floated through the house in a dream. She sang to herself while washing the dishes; she danced around the library quoting Sartre; she hugged people at random and stroked Ginny's hair until they fell asleep. She spent most of her time doing little things to make sure everyone else was okay and yet she seemed just as she always had. Beautifully, wonderfully weird.

"You'll come and find me as soon as you get back," Luna said, although it sounded like a question.

"Of course," Ginny said without hesitation.

She hoped like hell that she would be able to keep that promise.


End file.
